Profiting from the Cuba blockade
By Jill Hickson
Much has been made in the establishment's media of Gareth Evans' recent trip to Cuba. While he cited human rights and debt repayment concerns, the main reason for Evans' trip — the first ever by an Australian foreign minister — was to open the way for increased trade and investment by Australian companies specialising in mining, tourism and infrastructure development.
The Australian government is keen for a $17 million debt for sugar harvesting equipment to be paid. However, Evans made it clear that this would not stand in the way of Australian companies stitching up trade deals. Last September, Western Mining Corporation signed a nickel deal with Cuba said to be worth $500 million.
Trade between Cuba and Australia has never been very significant. Over the last financial year, Australian exports totalled $350,000; imports from Cuba reached $1.6 million. The United States' 35-year economic blockade of Cuba and Australia's slavish adherence to the US foreign policy line is one of the reasons for this.
In 1994, the US blockade caused close to US$1 billion in losses for the Cuban economy. This, combined with the collapse of its major trading partner, the former Soviet Union, has resulted in a drastic lowering of Cubans' living standards.
In spite of this economic hardship, Cuba has not followed the neo-liberal policies of other Latin American governments. Social services such as free health care and education have not been sacrificed.
What makes Evans' trip significant is that it took place at a time when the US government has reaffirmed its intractable stand on blocking trade with Cuba. Until recently, Australia's foreign policy fell in behind the US, but last year Australia voted against the US-imposed embargo in the UN General Assembly.
More than 26 countries now invest and trade with Cuba. Canada (mining) and Mexico (telecommunications and oil) have long-standing investments in Cuba despite being the US's biggest trading partners and part of NAFTA. Spain and Mexico have invested heavily in the tourism industry, as has Britain. French and Canadian interests are searching for oil, and the Netherlands is moving into manufacturing industry. Brazil and Colombia are importing Cuba's anti-hepatitis B vaccines. Even an Israeli firm is buying into Cuba's citrus industry — despite Israel being the only country to consistently support the US blockade.
President Clinton's attempts to tighten the blockade using the 1992 Torricelli Act (which prevents foreign subsidiaries of US companies trading with Cuba) is clearly not working. One of its main effects has been to block trade by US businesses. And if Evans' recent manoeuvring produces the desired results, Australian businesses look set to profit from the US's illegal, unjust and inhuman blockade of Cuba.
[Jill Hickson is the national projects officer for the Committees in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean.]